User devices (such as set top boxes that receive television programs or other broadcast data) will often need to implement or undertake one or more uninterruptible processes. An uninterruptible process is generally a process that the user cannot halt or cancel part way through and that must therefore be executed to completion, at least during normal operation. In the context of set-top-boxes, for example, functions exist such as a “picture in picture” (PIP) function that allows one or more programs/channels to be displayed on a display device in one or more inset windows. PIP can be used when navigating a program guide such that the content of a selected channel is displayed in a window within the guide display. The channel may be selected, for example, by a user highlight as the channel guide is scrolled through. Once a channel is selected, perhaps to access details of a currently playing program, the set-top-box appropriately tunes to the selected channel and decodes the media data to display the channel/program in the PIP window. Tuning and initiating the display of the PIP window typically includes one or more uninterruptible processes, which can greatly slow down navigation of the guide if applied every time the user highlights a channel when scrolling through a program menu. Other types of interruptible processes exist, both in set-top-boxes for receiving broadcast media data and outputting media content to display devices and in other user devices such as media players, personal computers and the like.
It would be desirable to be able to compensate for these uninterruptible processes that have the potential to spoil the user's experience of a device.